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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/22709539">Under Mirkwood</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/imaginary_golux/pseuds/imaginary_golux'>imaginary_golux</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>The Hobbit - All Media Types</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Cuddling &amp; Snuggling, M/M</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-02-14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-02-14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-18 03:41:42</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>957</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/22709539</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/imaginary_golux/pseuds/imaginary_golux</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>In the cells beneath Mirkwood, Dwalin and Ori try to stay calm and keep their spirits up.</p>
<p>Beta by my Best Beloved, Turn_of_the_Sonic_Screw.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Dwalin/Ori (Tolkien)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>18</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>92</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>February Ficlet Challenge 2020</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Under Mirkwood</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Dwalin bangs on the bars and roars until the elves are out of earshot. It doesn’t do any <em>good</em>, but it makes him feel a little better. Once he’s pretty sure they’re gone, he turns to look at his cellmate: little Ori, who looks like he’s still woozy from the spider-venom, sitting against the wall and blinking dazedly. Dwalin hunkers down in front of him. “Here, lad, have they done you harm?”</p>
<p>Ori shakes his head. “Just not feeling well,” he says. “Did you see where my brothers ended up?”</p>
<p>“Three cells down,” Dwalin says. “You can’t quite see them, but they’re within earshot. Might want to give them a yell so they know you’re here.”</p>
<p>Ori nods. “Help me up, please?”</p>
<p>Dwalin gets a hand around Ori’s arm up near the shoulder and hauls the younger dwarf to his feet. Ori is surprisingly heavy - sturdy, for all his lean build. Well, the brothers Ri are known for both their beauty and their strength. Dwalin helps Ori over to the bars, and Ori leans against them and calls, low and clear, “Dori! Nori! I’m alright; I’m in with Dwalin.”</p>
<p>Two yells of relief come down the hall. Dwalin eyes the way Ori is leaning against the bars and shakes his head. “Let’s get you lying down, lad; sleep will help work the poison out of you.”</p>
<p>Ori nods and turns, and they both realize at the same moment that this cell is only meant for one occupant. Admittedly, the bed is sized for <em>elves</em>, but there is only one of it.</p>
<p>“I’ll sleep on the floor,” Dwalin says. It won’t be terribly comfortable, but there’s a roof and the ground’s not made of tree roots, so it’ll be better than the fucking forest has been.</p>
<p>“Nonsense,” Ori says. “We’ll both fit, and I know you got bitten too. And -” he hesitates. “I’m used to sleeping next to my brothers. I don’t <em>like</em> sleeping alone.”</p>
<p>Dwalin grunts. If not for that last bit, he’d have still refused, but knowing it’ll make the lad feel better - well, Dwalin’s not heartless. “Get comfortable, then,” he says gruffly. Ori nods and slides into the bed, shifting back against the wall, and Dwalin climbs in beside him, facing the door. He doesn’t have any weapons - they even took his <em>knuckledusters</em>, the tree-shagging bastards - but he’s got his fists, at least, and his steel-toed boots. Ori curls up against his back and is asleep in moments. Dwalin lies awake a while longer, trying to come up with a way out of this mess.</p>
<p>He falls asleep without having any brilliant ideas.</p>
<p>*</p>
<p>Ori turns out to be a pretty good cellmate: he stays out of the way when Dwalin paces, he looks big-eyed and woeful at the elves to get them a little more gruel in their bowls, and his chosen form of passing the time is telling stories. He’s <em>good</em> at that, scribe that he is, and he spends hours every day sitting by the bars, recounting ancient tales loudly enough that most of the rest of the Company can hear. (All but Thorin. No one knows where Thorin is. Dwalin refuses to believe his king is dead, but that leaves a lot of options open.)</p>
<p>Ori’s got the knack of making stories <em>last</em>, of drawing out the details and adding in the side stories that don’t always get told, and Dwalin paces and listens and paces and listens, and at night he sleeps between Ori and the outside world.</p>
<p>He’s gotten used to sleeping back-to-back with his brother during the last few months of their travels - Balin snores, but then, so does Dwalin - but somehow it’s not quite the same, having Ori at his back. For one thing, Ori curls <em>around</em> Dwalin rather than pressing their backs together, and his breath is warm and a little distracting on the back of Dwalin’s neck. For another, Ori talks in his sleep - not often, and not loudly, but every so often he’ll say his brothers’ names, plaintively. When that happens, Dwalin reaches back to grab one of Ori’s hands and brings it around so he can cradle it to his chest, and Ori clings to him - far tighter than Dwalin would have guessed he could - and settles into quiet slumber again.</p>
<p>And then one night Ori says <em>Dwalin’s</em> name, desperate and scared, over and over, shriller each time, and Dwalin turns over and shakes the younger dwarf gently awake. Ori wakes with a start, eyes wide in the dim half-light, and stares at Dwalin as if at a ghost. “Are you dead?” he gasps.</p>
<p>“Nay, lad, we live yet,” Dwalin says softly, and guides Ori’s hand to rest over his heart. “See?”</p>
<p>Ori takes slow, deep breaths, deliberately calming himself. “Thank Mahal,” he breathes at last. “I dreamt - I dreamt -”</p>
<p>“Shh,” Dwalin soothes him. “We live. In cells, aye, but we live. Where there’s life there’s hope.”</p>
<p>Ori laughs a little shakily and tucks his face against Dwalin’s beard. Dwalin wraps his arms around the younger dwarf and holds him close. There’s no shame in fear, nor yet in needing comfort; any true warrior knows that. “Are we ever going to get out?” Ori asks, voice quavering.</p>
<p>Dwalin kisses Ori’s messy hair. “Aye,” he promises, knowing he can’t actually make it true. “Of course we will. There’s a bloody great dragon waiting for us, isn’t there? Be downright rude to stand him up.”</p>
<p>Ori giggles and snuggles closer. “Alright,” he says. “Alright.”</p>
<p>He falls asleep again in Dwalin’s arms. Dwalin stays awake the rest of the night, keeping watch, holding his companion close.</p>
<p>In the morning, Bilbo arrives, and Dwalin sends a silent prayer of thanks to Mahal that he will not be forsworn.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>For the FFC prompt "There was only one bed."</p></blockquote></div></div>
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